Possession
What is
possession? “Possession” means
“ownership; occupancy; anything possessed.”[1] People make statements concerning property,
such as, “that is my house” or “that is my car.” Humans own a lot of different possessions but
can a person become a possession?
Absolutely. Scripture declares
that people can become possessions. God
informs people that humans either belong to Him[2] or
the devil.[3]
The Greek
word for demon possession is “daimonizomai.”
It occurs in thirteen verses of the New Testament.[4] All thirteen occurrences appear within the
Four Gospels.[5] Matthew uses the word “daimonizomai” seven
times; Marks uses it four times, and it appears once in both books of Luke and
John. These thirteen verses refer to
four specific accounts of demon possession,[6] at
least two general accounts of people being demon possessed,[7]
and an accusation that Christ was demon possessed.[8]
Who can be
possessed? Is possession only limited to
adults? Are children susceptible to
possession? Can Christians become demon
possessed? Scripture reveals who can be
demon possessed. Adults, both men and
women, can become demon possessed.[9] Children can experience demon possession.[10] Unbelievers are susceptible to demon
possession.[11] If all of these can become demon possessed,
can Christians become demon possessed?
Christians CANNOT
become demon possessed. Matthew 6:24 declares,
“No
man can serve two masters:
for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to
the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 12:25 states, “And Jesus knew their
thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not
stand.” Scripture remains clear. No man can serve both God and the devil or
both kingdoms would fall. Humans must
choose either God or the devil.
Christians
cannot be demon possessed because God’s glory cannot reside in the same place
as the enemy. Luke 11:34 states, “The
light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole
body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full
of darkness.” This verse declares that
either the eye is either full of light or full of darkness. The two cannot be blended. Therefore, the presence of God, light, cannot
dwell with the presence of evil, darkness.
Christ verified this in John 8:12, he said, “I am the light of the
world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life.” The ultimate proof that
God’s presence cannot dwell in the same place as the enemy was recorded in the
book of I Samuel chapter five.
I Samuel
chapter five records God’s presence as dwelling apart from the presence of
demons. In I Samuel chapter five, the
Philistines defeat Israel and capture the Ark of the Covenant. They proceed to take the Ark into the temple
of Dagon, perhaps to worship it as another one of their gods. God refuses to dwell in the same place as the
presence of the demon and forced the image of Dagon to the ground.[12] The Philistines desired to keep their god and
Jehovah so they set Dagon upright again.[13] The next morning, they discovered Dagon on
his face before the Ark again with his head and hands were cut off.[14] After this occurrence, the Philistines
removed the Ark from the temple of Dagon and moved it to Gath. There exists a security in abiding in God’s
presence.
Christians
cannot be demon possessed because of God’s protection upon the believer. God informs the believer in James 4:7 that if
he/she resists the devil than he WILL flee.[15] This remains contingent upon the believer’s
submission to God. As long as the
believer remains submissive to God, they are a child God[16]
and God personally adopted them into His family.[17] God not only adopted the believer but
included them in His will and gave them an inheritance.[18]
God
distinguishes His children from the offspring of the devil. In Ezekiel 9:3-7, God commanded judgment to
fall upon the Israelites. He declared
that the judgment would begin at the Temple.
However, God told the angel to place a mark upon the foreheads of the
people that serve Him and then kill anyone without His mark.[19] God made a distinction between those that
served Him and that refused. God also
made a distinction in II Chronicles 7:14 by referring to Israel as “His
people.”[20] Also, in Revelation 7:3-4, God places His
seal in the foreheads of one hundred and forty-four thousand Jews. Also, in Acts 2:1-4, God places His
distinctive mark upon the lives of one hundred and twenty people.[21] God marks those that belong to Him.[22] Because this seal states that this individual
belongs to Him, no demon can enter that body as long as the individual belongs
to God.
Every demon
possessed individual in Scripture did not serve God prior to their possession
experience. As one studies Scripture, it
becomes obvious that Christ performed miracles everywhere He journeyed.[23] He even freed people of demon
possession. Scripture also mentions
specific people that Christ delivered from demon possession. In Mark chapter five, John Mark relayed the
account of the man who was possessed by several thousand demons who referred to
themselves as “Legion.” Christ cast
these demons into the swine as they wished and restored the man to his
sanity. After the local people heard
that Christ delivered the man from these thousands of demons, they begged
Christ to depart.[24] However, the man whom the demons possessed
begged Christ to stay.[25] All of a sudden, a conflict arises. The locals vehemently want Christ gone but
the man who was possessed desires Christ to stay. Why the conflict? The answer probably resides in the fact that
Christ can only work where people want him.
There exist people throughout the world that want to be demon possessed
and influenced by demons. These
geographical locations become strongholds for these particular demons.[26]
Another
instance that demons only possess unbelievers is the girl of Canaan. The mother came to Christ for help. The disciples instructed Christ to send her
away. However, Christ responded, “I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[27] Scripture testifies to the fact that only
unbelievers become demon possessed.
Demons
normally fear true believers because of the power of God in their lives. Luke chapter nine testifies to the fact of
Christ granting power over demons to His disciples.[28] The disciples returned to Christ in Luke
chapter rejoicing of the fact that the demons obey them.[29] For this reason, demons fear Christians.
In Acts
chapter nineteen, demons testify that they fear true Christians. In Acts chapter nineteen, a priest’s seven
sons decide to attempt to cast a demon out of a particular man. When they approach the man, the demon
questions the seven sons of Sceva. The
demon responded in Acts 19:15, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” These seven sons may have acted in the name
of religious tradition. They may have
figured, “Well, my father is a priest! How much more religious can I become?” These seven sons acted in the name of
religion and not in the authority of Christ.
These seven sons apparently did not possess a personal relationship with
Christ and, therefore, Christ never granted them the power that He grants His
disciples. Thus, the demon never them
feared but sent them away sore and naked.
[1]
Ibid., 760-761.
[2] Exodus
8:21 “Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of
flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy
houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and
also the ground whereon they are.”
[3]
Revelation 13:16-17 “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads: And that no man might buy or
sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his
name.”
[4]
Matthew 4:24 “And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him
all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those
which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that
had the palsy; and he healed them.”
Matthew 8:16 “When the even was come, they
brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the
spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:”
Matthew 8:28 And when he was come to the other
side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with
devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by
that way.”
Matthew 8:33 “And they that kept them fled,
and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen
to the possessed of the devils.”
Matthew 9:32 “As they went out, behold, they
brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.”
Matthew
12:22 “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb:
and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.”
Matthew 15:22 “And, behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O
Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.”
Mark
1:32 “And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were
diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.”
Mark
5:15 “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil,
and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were
afraid.”
Mark
5:16 “And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil, and also concerning the swine.”
Mark
5:18 “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the
devil prayed him that he might be with him.”
Luke
8:36 “They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.”
John 10:21 “Others said, These are not the
words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”
[5]
Note: The Four Gospels consist of the
books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
[6]
Note: These four accounts are: Legion (Matthew 8:28 & 33; Mark 5:15-18;
Luke 8:36), the dumb man (Matthew 9:32), the blind and dumb man (Matthew
12:22), and the woman’s daughter (Matthew 15:22).
[7]
See: Matthew 4:24; Matthew 8:16; and
Mark 1:32.
[8]
John 10:21
[9] Luke
8:2 “And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,”
Luke 8:27 “And when he went forth to land, there met
him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no
clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.”
[10]
Acts 16:16 “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel
possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying:”
Matthew 17:15-18 “Lord, have mercy on my son: for he
is lunatick, and sore vexed: for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft
into the water. And I brought him to thy
disciples, and they could not cure him.
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to
me. And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he
departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.”
[11]
Matthew 15:22-28 “And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,
and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my
daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him,
saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. Then came she and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread,
and to cast it to dogs. And she said,
Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters'
table. Then Jesus answered and said unto
her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her
daughter was made whole from that very hour.”
[12]
Note: Deuteronomy 32:17 states, “They
sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods
that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” God called the worship of idols as the
worship of devils. Therefore, when the
Philistines placed the Ark of the Covenant in the temple of Dagon, they placed
God in the presence of a demon.
[13] I
Samuel 5:3 “And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon
was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took
Dagon, and set him in his place again.”
[14] I
Samuel 5:4 “And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of
Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the
stump of Dagon was left to him.”
[15] James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
[16] Galatians
3:26 “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
[17] Romans 8:15 “For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
[18]
Colossians 1:12-13 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to
be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”
[19] Ezekiel
9:6 “Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women:
but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary.
Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.”
[20] II Chronicles 7:14 “If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.”
[21]
Acts 1:14-15 “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication,
with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up in the midst
of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred
and twenty,)”
[22]
Note: The devil possesses no creativity
and, thus, he mimics God. The devil also
places his distinguishing mark upon individuals. For information, read Revelation 13:15-17.
[23] Matthew
4:24 “And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all
sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which
were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had
the palsy; and he healed them.”
[24] Mark
5:17 “And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.”
[25] Mark
5:18 “And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the
devil prayed him that he might be with him.”
[26]
Note: Daniel chapter ten supports the
fact of demons ruling over a particular area.
In Daniel 10:13, Gabriel testified to the fact that the prince of Persia
hindered him from delivering the message to Daniel. This prince of Persia was a spiritual being,
a.k.a. a demon.
[27]
Matthew 15:24
[28]
Luke 9:1 “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and
authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.”
[29]
Luke 10:17 “And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the
devils are subject unto us through thy name.”
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